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Read MoreTruck Cookies and Piles of Worms
“Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds. The most powerful ones are those we can’t even describe, aren’t even aware of.” ELLEN GOODMAN “I’m putting a truck on mine,” proclaimed my eight-year-old. “That’s a great idea!” I said. Dump trucks are not ordinarily parked on holiday...
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Read MoreCranberry Relish Time!
Finding Joy in Simple Things like Cranberry Relish! Fate is a funny thing; people weave in and out of our lives and sometimes the ones who make the most memorable impact are here for the briefest of moments. I love these simple surprises, like the day I discovered cranberry...
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Read MoreGoodnight Historical Center; Worth A Stop
If you happen to be traveling along U.S. Highway 287 through the Texas Panhandle this holiday season, plan for a pit stop at the Charles Goodnight Historical Center in Goodnight, Texas. Don’t blink because you might miss it. Set back from the black top, you will see an 1887...
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Read MoreBook Reviews & Gift Ideas
Looking for your next read or a unique gift idea? Here are a few of my recent discoveries. Follow the links to author websites for more information and how to purchase. Cookbooks Home-Style Cooking for Extraordinary Diets by Sherri Axe Hartman Gluten free, wheat free, casein free, dairy free,...
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Read MoreUpdate: What’s New
Happy Fall, Y’all! Here’s an update on what’s new and what I’m working on: Rescue Animal Series: Geared towards emerging readers, these are chapter books with 3rd/4th grade vocabulary. If your elementary school or library would be interested in a program about “The Power of Words”, send me an...
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Read MoreFall Work on a Texas Ranch
Fall Weaning on a Texas Cattle Ranch. As the leaves turn to Fall colors and the early morning air takes on a crispness, ranch owners are busy gathering herds for Fall weaning and shipping to market. This is the time of year when supply meets demand. In 1867 Abilene,...
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Read MoreArbuckle: The Original Cowboy Coffee
“The Coffee that Won the West” When you walk into the doors of the event center for the Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, the first thing you notice is the smell of coffee. Hot water streaming through fresh ground coffee beans actually in the booth to your right. It takes...
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Read MoreOwen Wister & Western Fiction
Best known as the creator of western fiction, Own Wister was a “Pennsylvanian who sat down in South Carolina, and wrote a book about a Virginian who lived in Wyoming.” I happened upon a copy of his book, THE VIRGINIAN, in a used book store. The opening scene is...
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Wind of the West Texas Variety
One of the realities of living in the Texas Panhandle is the ability to not become agitated by the wind. There are some days the grit and gusts can drive you mad, but then there are those unbearably hot summer days when you can count on that cool breeze just before sundown. Today we have the shelter of our cars, home and offices where we can escape the incessant blowing that can continue over several days and nights. Weather fills many conversations in this area, mainly because it’s so unpredictable and can change within a matter of several hours. Because of the wind, our rain and snow never falls straight down. It comes in wet and sideways. “She shivered with cold, for the icy wind was at her like a great dog, leaping on her, pulling at her clothes, shaking her.” “Oh, for the calm and solitude of some still, woodsy nook in the country at home – some spot where she could relax and creep back into her soul’s peace and happiness if only for an hour!”… THE WIND by Dorothy Scarborough. The best description of the prevailing West Texas wind that I’ve read is from a novel by Dorothy Scarborough. First published in 1925, THE WIND (1979 by the University of Texas...
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Looking for Your Next Read?
Book reviews for a few gems I discovered this summer. True Life Memoir MORE THAN EVERYWHERE by Vanessa G. Foster I sat next to Vanessa at a writers dinner on the campus of WTAMU in Canyon, Texas this past summer. As with most gatherings that involve writers, the question always comes up: what do you write? Vanessa tells me that she just finished her memoir but it took her many years to write it. In answer to my question as to what makes her life’s memoir so unique, she says, “I was on the run from the FBI.” Of course I had to read it. This memoir packs a punch! Vanessa is forced to flee from the FBI after they raided her husband’s drug lab. The literary prose is stunning, and the story is haunting. She holds nothing back. “The summer I turned eighteen, Shane and his handsome danger blast into my life on a Harley Davidson… By the end of that first year there is no me left.” Beginning with being stranded in the far North, the true story is told in reverse, skipping around through the years which makes it confusing sometimes. I read in small bits of time whenever I get the chance. When I got back to the book after...
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Inspiration from a Flint Point
I found inspiration from an Indian point dating back to the Antelope Creek People who occupied the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles between 1150 AD and 1450 AD. The utilized the quarry at Alibates for over three hundred years, trading the flint with other tribes. On our ranch in the Texas Panhandle, heavy rains had washed off the top soil to reveal grey soil and chunks of blackened rock in a dry creek bed. Fragments of bone and flint flakes...
Read MoreCrow Country & Chief Plenty Coups
“Thank you for coming to Crow country. The land you are standing on is mixed with Crow blood.” ALDEN BIG MAN JR. I’m blogging about the Western Writers of America conference held in Billings and the field trip opportunities. I hopped on a bus and enjoyed a sack lunch while we journeyed to the Crow Nation to learn about Chief Plenty Coups. Chief Plenty Coups State Park is located on land still occupied by the Crow Nation south of...
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